Rocket engine construction



June 8, 1965 D. K. TAYLOR 3,187,503

ROCKET ENGINE CONSTRUCTION Filed May l, 1962 INVENTOR.

DONALD K. TAYLOR uux. ATTORNEYS Vlengthy shutdown. In such a situation,

3 ,137 ,5633 Patented June 8, 1965 United States Patent Gice This invention relates to the fieldV of rocketry and in particular is directedto anrimproved rocket engine cony struction and insulating means therefor.

As concerns rocket engines in general, the construction should be such as to incorporate as little weight penalty .as possible and as little complexity as possible while, at the same time, the construction should be of sufficient `structural rigidity and should also be of such nature as to avoid any material interior dimensional corrosion and/or erosion during use. Unfortunately, known materials which possess sufiicient structural rigidity do not adequately resist the corrosion and/ or erosion effects of the gaseous products lof fuel decomposition. To overcome these problems, various ablative substances have been used to line the interior of` a rocket engine. However, Asuch substances, by their very nature, inexorably produce internal dimensional changes as ablation progresses. Because such dimensional changes" detrimentally affect the thrust characteristics ofthe engine, nosubstantial degree thereof can be tolerated. Thus, this proposed solution is characterized by exceedingly short life, itself a serious problem. Another common solution involves the usetof heat sink means, such as disclosed in changes `due to i Patent No. 2,935,841, in which the Walls of the rocket j engine are provided with passages through whichfueLen route to the combustion chamber, is circulated. The ob- -jective here is to suliiciently cool the internal wall surfaces -as to impede corrosion and/ or erosion. Such a design suffers from complexity as well as weight penalty, the walls of necessity being rather thick and heavy.

Added to the above problems with rocket engines in .general is the further ldifficulty of thermalshock which may be encountered in situations where the rocket engine must be started while relatively cold. i For example, a

rocket engine or rocket engine` system used for attitude control purposes on an orbiting vehicle may encounter extreme thermal shockV whenever use is'dictated after a rocket engine which may perform acceptably under other conditions may well suffer loss of structural integrityv due to thermal shock.

` It is, therefore, a `primary object of this invention to i provide an `improved rocket engine combination in which internal insulating means is utilized to overcome all Vof the above diiiiculties. f rthus, Within the `realm of this invention is envisaged a rocket engine having. a relatively light Weight shell which functions primarily as astruc- Vtural` element and which is provided with an internal lining of novel construction characterized by its ability to insulate the shell Anot only from corrosion and/ or erosion but also from thermal sho'ck. Additionally,rit is a feature A of this invention that the liningor insulation beA ofsuch character as to obviate significant dimensional changes during use.` A

More specifically, the presentinvention deals with a Y material ofthe nature and for the purposes specified which is, in effect, a compound or composite material. Moreover, the 'natures of the several componentrparts of'the compound or composite material are such as to provide`V purposeful interaction therebetween so` .af particular and that the material, acting in'compositeN fashion, produces, the results desired. Thus, it is within the realmV of thisA f invention to provide a material resistant to thermalshoclrV andV characterized by its prolonged resistance to dimensional changes resulting from corrosion fand/or `erosion Which consists essentially of a base `or carrier substance and a protective substance interspersed therewithin, neither of which substances by itself is effective to produce the results attained by their combination.

Other objects and advantages of the present'invention appear from the specification hereinafter. In the drawing herewith,

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section` taken through the portion of a rocket motor constructed in accordance with this invention;

FIG.. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the plane of section line 2 2 in FIG. 1; l

' FIG. 3 is an enlarged partial longitudinal section illustrating the structure subsequent to use; and` A FIG. 4 isv an enlarged fragmentary planned view of the surfaces of the material illustrating the manner in which `the cooling of the base or carrier material is effected when the rocket is in operation. j j

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 1, the structure showntherem and indicated by the referencecharacter 10 represents a longitudinal section of-a rocket engine utilizing the principles of the present invention and will be seen to consist'essentially of outer casing 12 pro- `vided with a linerV 14, the details of which form the essential characteristics of the present invention, and which material 14 is characterized by its ability to resist thermal shock and at the Sametime to remainsubstantially intact 'dimensionally so as to avoid any `changes in cross sec- `rigidity to the assemblage whereas the material 14 forms `an insulation protecting the shell 12 and preserving the structural integrity thereof While, at the same time, the material 14 operates to producethe effects as shown. The problem with which the present invention is concerned is to provide some means which will enable the engine to be made oflightweightform and, to thisend, the shell 12 need not be of great mass inasmuch as deleterious effects produced by heat are largely eliminated due to the in- `sulating action of the liner material 14.

sacrificing structural rigidity during use.

` In operation, the rocket motor interior will besubjected to the rapid passage'therethroughof extremely hot 'u gases emanating as the products of decomposition of the 'particular fuelutilized.` The presence of these exhaust gases travelling at high speeds will tend to ablate the interior surfaces of the engine by corrosion and/ or erosion and,'under normal circumstances,` such ablation will manifest' itself. in more or lessradical lchanges in cross sec- ,tional area, particularly in the throat `area 18 of the engine. In order to compensate for the effects of' ablation and to minimize ablation in the `first place, the engines maybe made of relatively massivematerial and further may be provided with some means for cooling the walls.

" This solution to the problem inherently provides for other problems, particularly complexity of construction and massiveness giving rise to weight penalties tothe system.

' Consequently, an outstancling feature of the present invention'is the provision of4 insulationmeans 14 which sufficiently protects the shell 12 as to enable the latter to be made of extremely lightweight construction without Another problem encountered in this eld is the effect of thermal shock which is mostnoticeableunder such aggravated conditions as when a rocket engine may be shut down or-purposely inoperative for an extended period t `of'time'while theengirie is exposedV to outerfspace conditions or otherwise under conditions/at which the .ambient temperature -is extremely low. For` example, in an orbiting spacevehicle, the( rocket Oengines which controllthe attitude of the vehicle and/or reentry vwill normally" be' subjected to long periods at'which, the engines are shut' tains in addition to this carrier substance or material va i protective material which protects the carrier material from profound thermal shock and which also, in addition to this protection, effects a sufficient cooling of the base or carrier material during use so that ther carrier material i does not ablate to anyfsubstantial degree but, rather, produces a residue Whi'chgsubstantially faithfully maintains the dimensional integrity of the rocket engine interior. More specifically, the carrier material decomposes into a coke- 'like substance which doesV not materially affect cross sectional areas of the rocketengine and which by its very Y porosity and roughnes forms a goodjsurface upon which the protectivematerial is coated and to which such prorather than being'blownaway by the high velocity gasses remains as a coating upon the interior surface o f the coke-like mass until such protective material has been vaporized. In this fashion, ythe protective material is -rendered extremely efficient since the greatest amount of heat is thusdissipated at the interior surface of the rocket engine. p

That is to say, the protective material being initially a solid, absorbs sensible heat, heat of fusion, further sensible heat, heat lof vaporization and, to some extent, also de- Ycomposes so as to further insulate by the heat of pyrolysis.

The carrier also dissipates heat although to a lesser degree than were it `used alone.Y That is, the carrier fuses,

vaporizes and decomposes to some degree which is less n thanwould be the case in the absence of the protective y The rprotective vmaterial arrests the fusion,VA fvaporization and decomposition, atthe'coke residue stage, allowing lsuch residue to remain. Stated another way, the A,

material.

combination of ycarrier and protective materials is such that they cooperate to arrest decomposition of the carrier4v and therebyV form a residue, which residue exhibits a high degree of `retention of the protective material when in the fused state, whereby the greatestamount of heat eX- thereby indirectly protecting the shell containing the liner. The protective material is interspersed or distributed throughout the mass of the carrier material and such interspersionemay be achieved in any practical 'desired manner.k However, yas a preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawing, the protective material is in the form of p fiberswhich run generally between the inner and, outer surface'sof the carrier material, substantially as is shown in FIGLZ wherein itwill be appreciated that the fibers illustrated thereinrunvgenerally between the inner surface tectivermaterial clings so that the protective materiaL aie'asca f t Y it ,n t rocket engine. This relationship will be morereadily apparent from a simultaneous consideration of FIGURES 2 and 3 in which the two sections involved are taken re-Y spectively at right angles lto the center line and parallel to the center line. 1

With such a construction, the filaments of fibers will fuse and vaporize from the inside out as is shown in FIG. 3 wherein the portion belowl the line vA---A indicates that portion of the liner material whichhas been decomposed to provide the coke-like substance'and within the area of which kthe individual fibers or filaments of the protective material have been largely exhausted by the fusion and vaporization as aforesaid. FIG. 4 illustrates the wetting action cooperatively achieved by the proper selection of carrier and protective materials and, in this figure the reference character 26 indicates areas of the coke residue 28 which are wetted by the fused `protective material. According to the present invention, it has been found that the protective material is best formed as fibersjor filaments Vof boron oxide which, when used in conjunction with a carrier material in the form of aphenolic resin available asFlexiphen 160 (Kopfers Co.), these materials exhibit superior interaction for the retention of the fused boron f oxide until the same has been vaporized. The phenolic resin, Flexiphen V160 is composed of formaldehyde and hydrocarbon chains of the paraffin series of two or more vcarbon atoms Aarranged in chains of alternate molecules of phenol and one or the other of the linking molecules.

' That is to say, these two particular materials have been rial vso that the protective material does not tend to accumulate as droplets .or Vglobules which can be easily borne away but wherein the fused protective material rosion and/or erosion, is sufliciently protected by the Y- change is employedrfor protecting the liner directly and rather exhibits a wetting tendency and tends to form a relatively thin coating on the surface ofthe carrier material. The particular phenolic resin specified exhibits this compatibility with boron oxide to a maximum degree. The phenolic resin, rather than being carriedoff by corboron oxide that the resin forms a coke-like residue which does not materially deviate .from the originalcross sections throughout the rocket engine before use.

Referring again to'FIG. 3, it willbe appreciated that lthe longevity of the liner material 14 isl substantial, the

'indicated by reference character 22 and the outer ksurface t at the interface 44 between theliner material 14 andthe inner surface ofthe shell 12. These fibers in and of them-- selves `materially' enhance the structural characteristics f of the liner A14and maybe incorporated inthe composite constructionl in various and sundry fashions. For examlines BB and CC indicating progressive depths of coking and exhausting vof the boron oxide for protective material which may occur during usage of the engine either as a continuous. operation Ithereof or as a result of a series of shorter length operations.. In any event, the liner 14 may be made of a thickness' as required by the conditions of operationV to which it will be subjected and in the event that insolated sections of the Vrocket engine may require additional insulation or cooling effect, exterior cooling according to any of the well known and conventional practices maybey employed. Under some cir- 1 curnstances, such additional coolingmay be required in the throat region ofthe engine.V

t As sta-ted above, phenolic resins are to be preferred'as the carrier material.- However, there are some circumstances in which their use is not indicated even though,

to date, they have been found to offer the greatest compatibility wi-ththe protective material. For example, the

n phenolic resins require molding under relatively high fr pressures which limits their practical application to smaller Y size'rocket engines.l Molds of large sizercapable of withstanding the pressures involved'tend to be expensive so that, insome cases, other plasticfrnaterials having less compatibility but which lend themselves to cheaper construction may be preferred. To this end, more easily fabricated plastic materials such as epoxy resins may be employed because their ease of application by brush or spray eliminates the aforementioned expensive molds. Thus, in those instances where expense of fabrication dictates, plastic materials other than the preferred phenolic resins may be used.

In any case, the cooperation between the carrier material and the protective material is such that the protective material, which is fusible at the temperature of the exhaust gasses, arrests decomposition of the carrier to an extent that a residue of the carrier remains for retention of the fused protective material. Thus, the composite material as a whole cools and protects lthe engine while the protective material of the composition controls the degree of decomposition of the carrier material. To achieve these effects, the protective material should representatively be present in an amount ranging between about 25 to about 50% of the total weight of the composite material. I

It is to be understood that certain changes and modifications as illustrated and described may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A rocket engine comprising a shell, and

a liner for said shell,

said liner consisting essentially of a phenol formaldehyde resin carrier having a substantial Wall thickness and defining at least the throat and nozzle areas of the engine, and fibers of boron oxide embedded in said carrier to extend between the inner and outer surfaces thereof.

2. The engine according lto claim 1 wherein said fibers are arranged in layers extending perpendicular to the axis of the engine.

3. A material usable in high temperature-gas erosion applications,

said material comprising a combination of phenol formaldehyde resin carrier and protective material,

in which the protective material is interspersed throughout the carrier and acts to control consumption of the carrier such that the carrier progressively forms and remains as a coke residue of substantially the same dimensional characteristics as the original material,

said carrier constituting not less than about half the total weight of the material and said protective mateerial consisting essentially of lboron oxide bers which are progressively exposed as the carrier is charred to its residue.

4. Material according to claim 3 wherein said protective material also includes iibrous oxide selected from the group consisting of sodium oxide, potassium oxide, lithium oxide, silicon oxide, calcium oxide and mixtures thereof,

such additional oxides being present in an amount up to about 10%, by Weight, of the boron oxide.

9/ 5 6 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES Aviation Week publication, Feb. 13, 1961, pages 67, 69, 7l, 72 relied on.

Jet Propulsion publication, November 1956, pages 969- 972 relied on.

Astrolite, H. I. Thompson Fiber Glass Co., Products Bulletin No. PB 7-24A, July 1, 1959, pages 1-9 relied on.

SAMUEL LEVINE, Primary Examiner. 

1. A ROCKET ENGINE COMPRISING A SHELL, AND A LINER FOR SAID SHELL, SAID LINER CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF A PHENOL FORMALDEHYDE RESIN CARRIER HAVING A SUBSTANTIAL WALL THICKNESS AND DEFINING AT LEAST THE THROAT AND NOZZLE AREAS OF THE ENGINE, AND FIBERS OF BORON OXIDE EMBEDDED IN SAID CARRIER TO EXTEND BETWEEN THE INNER AND OUTER SURFACES THEREOF. 